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Post by fourcaster on Mar 6, 2013 1:39:28 GMT -7
Hey Z Forum! Recenty, I replaced the stock pups in my Fender American Special with a Fralin Blues Special (bridge) and a Bill Lawrence Keystone in the neck. I have a few complaints I'd like to address. First, the grease bucket tone circut in this guitar seems to have very little effect on the highs in either of these pups.
Secondly, the fact that the bridge is about 7k or so makes for a bright pup. That being said, I've found it difficult to get a useable sound out of my MAZ 38 regarding the treble and cut knobs. Also, I can't seem to get the bass knob past 8'o clock. Once it goes to 9'oclock or so, the bass seems to be too boomy/ woofy, especially when I hit the low E. I'm wondering if it had anything to do with the cab I'm using (Egnater Tourmaster 2x12 w/ stock speakers). It's an oversized cab that reminds me of the Bluesbreaker-esque cabs Avatar builds. My Peavey XXX sounds great through the Egnater, but the Z not so much. Anyone w/ suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Fourcaster
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Post by muZician on Mar 6, 2013 7:49:39 GMT -7
your bass problem might depend on the cab...you should try with another cab to be sure. Tube amps interact strongly with speaker cabs, with the speakers but also with the cab itself. Egnater cabs are made of plywood as far as I know and might have a very high bass response (which the amp cannot control, being it a tube amplifier). A cab made of hardwood would be better. But tis is just a guess. Try to be sure. To your pup problem: did not really get what you mean: are the pups too harsh? is the sound too thin? what is the difference to the stock pups?
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Post by wubberdubber on Mar 6, 2013 10:36:30 GMT -7
The grease bucket control won't affect highs much...it's designed to mainly prevent the muffled lows and complete loss of highs that occur with a normal passive tone control is rolled back. You can do away with that, wire in a regular cap and probably get a smoother high end response between the guitar and amp with those pickups. I've owned several MAZ amps, and I've never been able to run the bass control past 9-10 o'clock...with some humbuckers, around 8 o'clock doesn't sound abnormal to me. As already stated, you should try a couple of other cabs; over-size and closed-back will definitely accent the low end, some to the point where it would be hard to dial out via the amp. I recently sold an over-size 2X10 cab I had for that very reason.
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Post by fourcaster on Mar 6, 2013 10:36:44 GMT -7
Thanks for your input regarding the speaker cab. I'll definitely be looking into testing different speaker cabs soon. As far as the pups go, there is a particular high frequency that I can't seem to dial out of my sound. It lingers on the edge of being ice pick-esque, especially when I dig into the higher strings. So any chance of turning the treble/ cut knobs past 8 or 9 o'clock is almost impossible. I do like the characteristics of the Fralin and the Keystone, but I feel like all these little factors are keeping me from realizing the full potential of my setup (once again, I don't think the grease bucket circut is very effective in eq'ing the high end on my Fralin, as it was probably designed for a higher output pickup...the stock bridge single coil measures 16k, while the neck was about 10k). Gonna keep on keepin on till I get this right! Fourcaster your bass problem might depend on the cab...you should try with another cab to be sure. Tube amps interact strongly with speaker cabs, with the speakers but also with the cab itself. Egnater cabs are made of plywood as far as I know and might have a very high bass response (which the amp cannot control, being it a tube amplifier). A cab made of hardwood would be better. But tis is just a guess. Try to be sure. To your pup problem: did not really get what you mean: are the pups too harsh? is the sound too thin? what is the difference to the stock pups?
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Post by fourcaster on Mar 6, 2013 10:52:38 GMT -7
Wubberdubber, thank you for your input. As I mentioned, I figured the grease bucket wasn't going to affect the highs very much and you just confirmed my suspicions. So you've had trouble w/ the MAZ dialing in bass, too? I'm mostly running single coils. I've found that dialing the bass past 10-11 o'clock helps beef up the treble strings a little bit, and helps aid in shaping my tone closer to what I'm looking for. But it also affects the lower wound strings, thus the added "boominess". Have there been any combination of cab/ guitar you've used in the past that have enabled you to dial the bass on the MAZ past 9 o'clock? Are there any 2x12 cabs you might reccomend? I mostly play country, funk and r&b through my Z. I will use dirt pedals too (Zendrive, Wampler Brent Mason overdive/ distortion, and Fulltone OCD). The grease bucket control won't affect highs much...it's designed to mainly prevent the muffled lows and complete loss of highs that occur with a normal passive tone control is rolled back. You can do away with that, wire in a regular cap and probably get a smoother high end response between the guitar and amp with those pickups. I've owned several MAZ amps, and I've never been able to run the bass control past 9-10 o'clock...with some humbuckers, around 8 o'clock doesn't sound abnormal to me. As already stated, you should try a couple of other cabs; over-size and closed-back will definitely accent the low end, some to the point where it would be hard to dial out via the amp. I recently sold an over-size 2X10 cab I had for that very reason.
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Post by muZician on Mar 6, 2013 11:33:53 GMT -7
here a simple solution for the pickups that might help: solder a 1000pF or even better a 1500pF capacitor in parallel with the pups: the best place is across the volume pot, the 2 outer pins and NOT the central pin. I did this on my CS Nocaster (still with the stock pups): great result at least to my ears. This will shift the resonance frequency (of the circuit made of inductance of the pickup and capacitance of pickup and guitar cable) a bit downwards to "warmer" frequencies. And it will NOT just cut high frequencies like the tone knob does. By the way there are people obtaining the same effect using very long guitar cables, thus adding more capacitance in parallel with the pickup in use
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Post by wubberdubber on Mar 7, 2013 13:40:12 GMT -7
The tone controls on a MAZ...I'll say this; if you come from being used to Fenders, Marshalls, etc. like I was, the MAZ tone controls are a learning experience. They're very interactive, and the settings may not "look" right to sound right, if you know what I mean. The mid control especially, interacts with the bass...if I'm trying to dial a new guitar, or pickups in, I usually start with everything at 12 o'clock and add or subtract to taste. There are also a couple of MAZ mods somewhere on the forum if you can't quite get it where you want it, although I think it just takes some sit-down time with the amp.
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